Analyses

ANALYSIS: Yandex and Mail.Ru Group blocking in Ukraine in the context of information warfare

So far, the most popular social network in Ukraine has been VKontakte, followed by Facebook, which shared its position with Odnoklassniki in certain ranking lists. Imposing sectoral sanctions on Russian entities was not motivated by social pressure. Although the political aspect is important, the major reason was economy and security, and the decision was supposed to impact the aggressor state financially and prevent its enterprises to make money on the Ukrainian market. However, there is a range of serious threats for the Ukrainian state resulting from this decision.

Analysis of the Russian “Strategy for the Development of an Information Society”

On 9 May 2017, Vladimir Putin signed an Executive Order on the “2017-2030 Strategy for the Development of an Information Society in the Russian Federation.” The Strategy’s principal goal mentioned in the document is “to create conditions for the formation of a knowledge society in the Russian Federation.” It can be inferred that Russia is preparing for a total information warfare with the world, which is supposed to take many years, and the defensive aspect of this warfare will be its crucial role.